Newsletter May 2018

The Time Travel method – In the Service of Society and its Development International Seminar in , in the honour of Ebbe Westergren

In late February museum/ Bridging Ages, in cooperation with Linnaeus University and Nordic Centre for Heritage Learning, arranged a week in Kalmar, Sweden with seminars and workshops on the Time Travel method – the past and the future. The week was in honour of Ebbe Westergren, the founding father of the Time Travel method, Senior Curator at Kalmar county museum and Honorary President of Bridging Ages. Now also Honorary Doctor at Linnaeus University.

The international seminar explored how the Time Travel method and Applied Heritage can meet the challenges in today´s society. Focus were on three key topics: 1/ social cohesion/ integration/ peace; 2/ education/ work; 3/ health/ environment. There were also university lectures, workshop on international collaboration between schools, a public program and several informal gatherings in the week.

The week in February in Kalmar, Sweden was surrounded by a heavy snowstorm covering the ground with half a meter of snow, which made the experience magical and exotic. Here are some of the guests outside Kalmar county museum.

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The Time Travel method – The Past and the Future 1960s, 1970s, A world of change 1960s/ 1970s was a world of change in Sweden and in many parts of the world. There were slogans like: Power to the people! Education to the people! Culture to the people! Museum, Heritage and Society were tied closer together.

Crucial years in the history of the Time Travel method 1. The start in the 1980s The Time Travel method started in the mid 1980s in the Kalmar region, Sweden. Kalmar county museum supported the schools in implementing the curriculum, using local historical sites and stories.

Ebbe Westergren in 1971 2. In 1997 the Kalmarunion, 600 years, was celebrated with hundreds of historical events and Time Travels in the Kalmar region. In the year 2000 Kalmar county museum got a National Commission for three years from the Swedish government, to spread the Time Travel method all over Sweden. Schools, museums and local communities were involved. The Time Travel team at Kalmar county museum grew bigger. The first university courses on the Time Travel method were held in Kalmar. Two buses and museum staff ready for Time Travel events.

3. In 1999 Kalmar county museum were invited to go abroad with the Time Travel method to Ostrobotnia, Finland and to Minnesota, USA. This was the start of international cooperation and the spread of the Time Travel method to many countries: to the Åland Islands, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Turkey…

4. In 2004 Bridging Ages was formed at an international seminar in Vimmerby, Kalmar county, Sweden. Eight countries decided to create a network with the office at Kalmar county museum. In 2007 Bridging Ages was made into a formal organization. Since then Bridging Ages has grown. There are There are Bridging Ages groups in more than 20 countries. international conferences every year and national chapters in several countries.

5. When Kalmar county museum was invited to South Africa 2006, the Time Travel method gradually changed. Key questions and safe spaces for reflections in the events were introduced. Focus became more and more on contemporary issues. There was a paradigm shift from learning about history to learning something of today, through history. In an expert seminar in Pretoria 2016, the Bridging Ages countries agreed on the definitions, principles, process and event of the Time Travel method. Reflection, together with others, is the focal point of a Time Travel event.

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The Time Travel method is an educational method, REFLECTION DIVERSITY, COHESION using local heritage in a learning process, to create reflection on contemporary issues, and provide tools for community building. HERITAGE FUTURES

Kalmar county/ Sweden Kalmar county museum has a team at the educational unit that focus on the Time Travel method, in workshops, trainings and events. Kalmar county museum do more than 100 Time Travels every year. Crucial Swedish partners are Linnaeus University, Centre for Applied Heritage and the Nordic Centre for Heritage Learning and Jamtli in Östersund.

Results over more than 30 years - The Time Travel method has expanded from one region in Sweden to more than 20 countries all over the world. - The concept has widened and includes today many programs, using the heritage to reflect on contemporary issues. - There are many engaged persons in the Bridging Ages groups. - There have been successes over the years, but also challenges. - It is still to discuss the role of museums, heritage institutions and schools in learning, cohesion and community building. - We are on the right track but most is still left to do.

”Time Travel is such an empowering method. It gives recognition to ordinary people, boosts their self esteem and make them realize that they too can make a huge contribution to democracy in South Africa.” Gulshera Khan, Social worker, Port Shepstone Twinning Association, South Africa

“You have established a powerful pedagogical method that found many followers!” Cornelius Holtorf, Professor in Archaeology, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

Thoughts for the Future • Meet the needs of the local society, rooted in an ever-changing heritage • Have a common vision. Listen more and lecture less • Engagement and hard work. • Be in the service of society and its development Important words: Cohesion/ Together; Peace (of mind); Serve

Our time is now!

Ebbe Westergren Kalmar county museum, Sweden Bridging Ages, Honorary President

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Sweep away the snow in Kalmar I responded immediately to the invitation to photographed by Ebbe Westergren’s retirement farewell: Yes, I shall surely come to Sweden. Preparations and

constant emails culminated in me and my

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wife’s arrival in the unusually big amounts of KrystianMadejski snow covering every inch of the Kalmar surface.

International seminar at Kalmar county museum There were several high profile presenters and participants at the seminar. I put forward two main points on the session considered social lost its lost appeal in some Soviet republics, cohesion and integration. The first point was, those of Hendrik Verwoerd and Cecil Rhodes that one could not responsibly discuss social fell along with the appeal of Apartheid. cohesion and integration until considered the School seminar in causes of social discord. In South Africa The Oskarshamn seminar was a wonderful colonialism and Apartheid were the major experience that my colleagues in Mumbe issues that sow separateness and left the Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal enjoyed legacy of disintegration. The second point was listening to, when Kholisile and I came home. It the fact that instead of foregrounding the end, was an opener to learn that there are countries we have often foregrounded the means which do support their school adequately. towards that end, which is social cohesion. Final words University lecture at Linnaeus University Kholisile Ntsimane wishes to add on the My presentation at the university showed how hospitality demonstrated by the organizers, through the use of Oral History and the Time especially those on Kalmar läns Museum staff. Travel method one can communicate difficult Coming from a country characterized by racial heritage. I demonstrated how heritage has divisions Kholisile was surprised when one of both temporal and spatial relevance. The the museum employees took a broom and relevance of statues and monuments are swept away the snow from her shoes at the determined by the people who live during a entrance of the museum. specific time period in a specific geographical Radikobo Ntsimane location. The statues of Joseph Stalin and KwaZulu-Natal Museum Services, South Africa Vladimir Lenin fell down when Communism

Peace Building and Time Travels in Kenya

photographed by In Kenya today, we need to work more towards the notion of positive peace, which means a peace that promotes reconciliation and

coexistence on the basis of human rights,

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social, economic and political justice. KrystianMadejski Peacebuilding refers to the process whereby the goal is to strengthen the capacity of societies including social solidarity. Solidarity is

when members of the society begin to

recognize each other as fellow human beings and share a concern in the common welfare and well-being of each other.

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Cultural attitudes and values provide the would be invoked during the meeting. A bull foundation for the social norms by which would be slaughtered and its blood collected people live. Song, art, drama, dance, sports and and sprinkled into the air as a way of binding technology are cultural tools used in traditional the community to the peace covenant. As a peace building initiatives and are still relevant gesture of reconciliation the whole group today. would eat the meat together. Thereafter, In most African communities, when there was feasting, singing, dancing and celebration a serious conflict, the elders would call a would continue for several days. The whole traditional peace conference. The whole society would thus be part of the agreement. community would gather with one common objective, i.e. to restore the broken There is need to borrow from our traditional relationship and invigorate the process of practices to build the future community we healing. Such a meeting would be open-ended wish to have, and this is the essence of using so that all the participants have time and the Time Travel method in peace building opportunity to air their views. The meeting activities in Kenya today. would be held in a “carnival” atmosphere, Mildred Ayere, Maseno University, Kenya punctuated with stories, songs, dance, Chairman Bridging Ages Kenya proverbs, etc. The name of God and the spirits

The Time Travel method, New Mexico, USA and Yukon,

Canada photographed by Our earliest Time Travels, with New Mexico State University at the Farm and Ranch Museum in Las Cruces, New Mexico, were

small. Five university students transported ©

KrystianMadejski small school classes to 1889. The next year, our Time Travels to 1776 were much richer and thought-provoking. Children explored such

topics as religion and its effect on the native people, disease, death, and caste hierarchies. When the students left, it was with much to has inspired this innovative learning in these think about and explore back in their varied North American locations. classrooms. This second Time Travel course inspired me to Future goals teach. I moved to Tucson, Arizona and utilized 1) Continue to explore and promote the use of Time Travel and role-play to enhance both the Time Travel method in New Mexico and the primary and secondary learning. When I Yukon Territory, especially among Native returned to Las Cruces to work at the Farm and Americans and First Nation People, to Ranch Museum, I taught an annual week-long empower communities. living history camp which inspired many 2) Utilize the Time Travel method to engage students. and spark the imaginations of underserved and at-risk youth in schools throughout New The Time Travels we have done in New Mexico Mexico and the Yukon Territory. and the Yukon territory, Canada have 3) Formulate a strategy for utilizing the Time connected school children across the region Travel method to further the mission of New with the past in a relational and immersive Mexico’s Department of Cultural Affairs and manner, creating indelible historical learning Parks Canada. and increased social consciousness. Ebbe Westergren’s instruction and motivation to Scott Green, New Mexico and the Yukon better society through the Time Travel method Territory WWW.BRIDGINGAGES.COM FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM @BRIDGINGAGES

Social cohesion and challenges The How can we enhance social cohesion when our uncertainty societies become more fractured and in the world segregated? How can we as a heritage

today is high. institution be part of the solution? Do we want KLM

Who would to? Further questions arise: © have thought • How do we integrate our institutions in a that the UK diverse and pluralistic society? would vote • to leave the Are we independent? How independent can photographed by by photographed EU and that we be when we have to follow the money? Donald Trump would be the president of the • Who are our institutions excluding and ? What will the world look like in why? five years? No one knows. These are some of the questions we need to The political focus has shifted in many regions, address. If we are serious about the challenges from economy and ideology to identity and ahead, we need to allocate resources and make culture. Technology and social media are a collective effort. It´s a new, fast-moving world reshaping our world in an increasing speed. We and the old solutions are not applicable also live in a more and more segregated world. anymore. Museums around the world need According to Oxfam 86% of the world’s growth decide on how to be in the service of society goes to the wealthiest 1%. Many people are and its development.

mistrusting the political system and democracy Mattias Lunn, Kalmar county museum, Sweden is wilting away.

Time Travels addressing community needs in South Africa South Africa is one of the world’s youngest forceful democracies. The primary task in 1994 was to removal rebuild, prioritise and address the country’s was the infrastructural needs, including eradicating focus in a inequality, poverty and unemployment. Time In researching for Time Travel sites at local Travel community level, and with particular oral event. The history recordings, oftentimes the deep Port wounds of the past resurface. The Time Travel Shepstone method is a supportive tool for education, but Twinning is also addressing community needs, providing Association has continued to work with other therapy and used for developing community families in this township, to restore dignity. sites for tourism. Their needs are addressed through supportive services and their space respected. Oral One of the most repressive laws of the history continues as this is being documented apartheid government was the Group Areas for future generations. Act of 1950. Almost 4 million people were forcefully removed overnight to areas with no This is one of many examples whereby the basic resources. In 2010, Ebbe Westergren, intervention by Ebbe Westergren and Kalmar working with a committee in Gamalakhe, a läns museum is supporting our need and township arising out of the Group Areas Act, course for reconciliation and social cohesion realised that there was no information about through the Time Travel method. A legacy that the township at the local library. The purpose we should all emulate. In his retirement, we was to expand the Time Travel method to this thank Ebbe for this contribution. township affected by apartheid. As a result, Gulshera Khan, Port Shepstone Twinning one of the families´ story on the day of the Association WWW.BRIDGINGAGES.COM FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM @BRIDGINGAGES

Life time competences and time travelling What may time travelling be for older adults in re-living the time. We the third age – the period post labour life until observe how the the health situation deteriorates? This is an age memories of our guests group which is growing rapidly in western are tricked by the total society. With life time competences I refer to bombardment of all the knowledge, skills and attitudes which senses and how they develops through a lifetime based on play along. The elderly experiences and biological development. Such in the museum become competences are personal but there are also commonalities between people. both teacher, learner and co-producer of the In museums and archives many elderly people experience. are volunteering. In this way new memories are The Time Travel method as developed in preserved and the elderly grow as she or he Kalmar and with the many followers has as feels valued. At the same time the heritage Ebbe Westergren emphasises the focus on organisation provides a place for a social contemporary issues in a learning process, by setting. The heritage organisations, when using the local past. For elderly at heritage successful, are almost archetypical places to organisations such as Jamtli, the time travel stimulate self-directed-learning. may be about “contemporary past”, as it is a life time memory. At Jamtli museum we have permanent environments from 1940s, 1950s and 1970s Henrik Zipsane, Jamtli, Östersund, Sweden with complete buildings, interiors and actors

Ebbe – End of an era It´s time that we put aside all the usual words amusement park, of appreciation. Words that are so frequently when he showed the spoken, when we celebrate the deeds and Mesolithic weapon achievements of a professional man on the technology by brink of retirement. No, I will take on the tough letting a real Stone task of saying the truth no matter how age hunter plunge unpleasant it will be. So, let´s concentrate on his arrow deep into Ebbe´s failures, shortcomings and weaknesses. the carcass of a dead pig in front of the He´s far to charismatic, playful, inventive, astonished audience. entertaining, humorous, smart and successful Ebbe had a unique quality which many are very for being a true man of science. But if you can skeptical to: the ability to be serious and at the overlook all of these negative things with Ebbe same time have fun and entertain others. – then you are in for a ride. Some years later I found a new playground, the Ebbe – comrade in arms, we have worked with 600th anniversary of the great Nordic union. one another for many years, sometimes close 1397 – 1997. That summer of 97 Ebbe and his and sometimes more distant. Back in the late gang got the whole Swedish nation to play eighties Ebbe and I were trying to establish a along – and learn along. By the tv-program Stone Age scientific and visitor´s centre at “Salve”, the Middle Ages became hot stuff for Tingby, west of Kalmar. Never in my the Swedish youth - and their parents. It was a professional career have I been part of such bright, hot, wild summer. A medieval summer. immensely successful presentations, when Salve Ebbe, historical mesmerizer and realizer Ebbe demonstrated Stone Age high tech for of ideas! media and politicians. These occasions were a Jan Herstad, Kalmar mixture between a historical seminar and an WWW.BRIDGINGAGES.COM FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM @BRIDGINGAGES

Tribute to Ebbe Westergren a brilliant, creative mind traversing from country- to- country town- to- town, village- to- village, across continents too he shared gave credit to the forgotten empowered and embraced our stories, learnt about us, our past, present and future. made it come alive- a living heritage he cascaded the Time Travel method, gave recognition, brought togetherness and focussed on the present and future contemporary topics a holistic approach beyond education, community building and social cohesion You created a legacy that we shall follow Forever grateful “We will never forget even if we try”

Port Shepstone Twinning Association

Honorary Doctor at Linneaus University

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Linnaeus University, with the support from Department of Teacher Education has appointed Ebbe

Westergren as honorary doctor at Linnaeus University.

“Ebbe Westergren has made outstanding achievements in society, related to the disciplines of heritage environment, archaeology, history education, pedagogy and educational science. He has for many years promoted development of research and education at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Ebbe Westergren, as an inspirational and dynamic partner, has had a crucial influence on the development of collaborations that tie together Linnaeus University and Kalmar County Museum with various local, regional and international partners.”

The Vice Chancellor at Linnaeus University, Peter Aronsson, announces the appointment of Ebbe Westergren as Honorary Doctor at the university

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